>>42506748Caustic vomit sticks to the inside of your nose and mouth. Your stomach churns as you stare down into a puddle of watery vomit as the Rag People give increasingly muffled cheers. They're all around you, deftly dismembering the flesh of two of the three “campers” you just killed and cramming it into their mouths. They're remarkably good at it, considering the crude and improvised nature of their tools.

Two groups of the smaller, cooing Rag People (which you've decided are the females, despite being uncertain of the exact nature of a “female”) approach you, carrying the corpse of the “camper” you killed and the lifeless body of your Chosen One, the latter's chest badly deformed where it was struck by the strange weapon wielded by one of the campers.

Both are placed in front of you, their features barely recognizable to you in the darkness of the tunnel platform. One of the Rag Women (?!) points first at your Chosen One and then at the “camper”.

“Et, gin powar.”

Your stomach convulses at the thought but you do feel a certain... hunger.

>Eat from both>Eat from just the “camper”>Eat from just the Chosen One>”The Chosen One was my son. As God of the Hairy Glowslimes, I invite you and your fellow Rag People to dine on him and feast on his divine essence.” (Don't eat.)

The Chosen One's flesh is repulsive, mottled and stretched thin against his degenerate bones. You bite down anyway and rich salty blood wells up from the meat inside your mouth, almost gagging you. You manage to stomach a few more bites before moving on to the “camper”.

You eat from the “camper”. His skin is dirty but he's considerably more appetizing than the Chosen One. Distressingly warm and salty blood wells up into your mouth once more but the flesh is surprisingly soft and tender. You manage to take a few more bites before becoming entirely disgusted with yourself.

>gained 3 toughness XP

Noticing the clothes on the sacrificial camper's corpse are still intact, you change into them. This is your first experience with clothing and it's actually much more comfortable than you thought it would be. Soon you have stripped down the corpse completely and are garbed in ragged earth-tones. You place your trusty rock in one of the many pockets of the camper's pants (?!) and discover a large knife still in its holster as you explore the others.

>Gained Dockhelot's Knife

You notice a large brand on the back of the “camper” as well. It crudely depicts a large steel structure like the ones you saw back in the crater with a large point at the top, surrounded by smaller structures and contained within a circle.

Finally, one of the Rag People presents you with the barreled weapon that the camper was using. In the near total darkness of the tunnel you were unable to get a good look at how he used it but in the instant after he fired it there was enough light to get an idea of how to handled it. You point the badly battered weapon down the tunnel and, after some fiddling, get it to unleash a deafening burst of sound and light.

The Rag People react with shock and fear but you quickly pacify them with holy reassurances. After some more experimentation using some cylinders you find in the “camper's” backpack, you figure out how to load and fire the weapon reliably.

Deciding that it is a better weapon than your needle, you put your old standby into your new backpack and wield the Holy Rod instead. You also find some other useful items...

The Rag People chatter excitedly, their bellies full of meat and victory. They're eager to proceed further down this platform and so are you. After all, you suspect these people came from the surface...

>continue to explore deeper into this platform, try and find how the “campers” got down here>hand-pick a new Chosen One to replace your lost disciple before continuing

“Before I proceed towards the surface, a new Chosen One must be appointed! Those who feel they are worthy, step forward and be judged!”

There are perhaps 40 Rag People in your little mob and from their numbers step forward only three. Two of them are of the larger variety (which you believe to be male (?!)) and one of the smaller, likely female, type. The two males wipe the gore from their seeming permanently glowing teeth and lay their weapons at your feet, a “spear” tipped with broken glass and a pipe with a piece of rock strapped to its end respectively. The female reaches into her rags and presents you a single wide-capped brown mushroom. The clan becomes silent as they await your decision.

>take the one with the spear>take the one with the club>take the one with the mushroom>”None are worthy of my divinity!”

You select the Rag Person with the club. He barely comes up to your hip but you hope he will be a talented warrior who will offer you some protection in your travels. He certainly does seem very alert...

Together, you delve deeper into the platform, through rusted gates and ancient portals. You walk down increasingly thin and winding halls, their walls coated with mosaics that depict sun-drenched fields and people with metal implements who tend to them. The Rag People are awed by this but you merely become anxious.

After a time you come to some metal stairs, which you climb. They lead to more stairs which you continue to climb until finally you reach a flight that causes you to flinch and look away. Light pours down from above, illuminating this final flight of stairs and promising that the surface is just above. You almost dash up it but you're startled by explosions in the distance and a sort of muffled roaring sound, as though a great deal of wind is passing over the surface.

You turn to address your Rag People.

>”I will go alone to purify the surface for your arrival. You must stay here and await me. Kill or capture any who descend.”>”I and the Chosen One will go to purify the surface for your arrival. You must stay here and await me. Kill or capture any who descend.”>”Come! We must all partake in the purification of the surface world, no matter the cost!”

>>42507470[2/2]The satisfaction you feel climbing the stairs is the greatest you have felt thus far in your life. You not only survived those tunnels, you created a cult to worship and assist you! Surely the surface world will be a piece of cake by comparison!

Your confidence is distressingly short-lived. As you near the surface the muffled roaring becomes louder and the temperature begins to rise dramatically. When you reach the top there is a horrible crumbling sound and you and your Chosen One narrowly avoid being struck and crushed by an enormous piece of flaming debris as it tumbles down from the sky. The towering structure across the street is on fire! Your Chosen One screams, overwhelmed by the sound, light, and the fury of the fire, all of which are stimuli on a scale which he has never witnessed before.

Metal bends and supports snap inside the building. You need to move before it collapses!

>Grab your Chosen One and run!>Let him run on his own! Bolt out of there!

In the heat of the moment you find it surprisingly easy to sweep up you distressed chosen one into your arms and make a run for it... You don't get far before you hear the building start to collapse for real.

Seeing no discernible benefit to going one way over the other, you opt to go to the left. Explosions continue to ring out and up in the sky you can see what appear to be enormous clusters of red bubbles floating high above even the tallest structures. Tiny projectiles drop from them and you watch as they either blow up or burst into flame on impact with the buildings around you. A few come distressingly close to striking you..

After a while, you spot a single figure in the distance. He spots you as well, pointing his own "Holy Rod" and unloading it in your direction. The shot whistles between you and the Chosen One and once again you have to make a split second decision...

>return fire immediately (roll a d20 in your post)>take cover and assess your shot (also roll d20 in your post)>approach under fire, try and get close enough for melee or at least a better shot>surrender!>bolt in a different direction

You rapidly move up and take cover behind the burnt out husk of some old machine. The bullets continue to ping off your cover but you're safe for the moment. You tell your Chosen One to move to an even closer piece of cover and he obeys, fully in the grip of your theocratic authority.

Turning to face your foe, you assess your shot. It won't be easy but you've got a better chance of pulling it off from here; your opponent is in the open, advancing while firing. He doesn't seem to know you're armed...

You take aim for the chest and manage to land a hit. There's a sound like a shattering plate (something else you recognize without knowing where from) and the man reels back before falling to one knee, clutching his left breast. He calls out to you, in English.

"Damned slave! The Metropolyiates will be done with this battle soon and when they do they will come and capture you themselves! Come peacefully with me and avoid their wrath!"

Your Chosen One is close enough that he could presumably dash forward and attempt to batter this man with his club but you could also take another shot at him first.

>signal to your Chosen One to attack>take another shot (roll d20s again, DC of 12)>surrender

But he succeeds, meeting your Chosen One's club with the butt of his gun. The weapon shatters partially but he follows up his successful block with a kick that sends your agent to the ground. He then draws a knife and descends on your Chosen One to finish the job...

>Run forward and shoot! Shoot now! (roll d20s)>Stay where you are and shoot (DC 12) (roll d20s)>Take advantage of the distraction and make a run for it down a nearby side street.

>Damage rolling is done behind the scenes by the QM, as it contains a few moving parts. For reference, it is done as follows:

>Damage done will be calculated by rolling a toughness die against the appropriate damage die for the weapon being used. A normal human rolls a 1d6 toughness die plus their modifier and, if the roll exceeds the damage die of the weapon used, they can shrug off the attack. Otherwise they take damage equal to the damage roll minus their toughness roll. Most weapons have a modifier attached to their roll to represent the damage that an average hit can reasonably be expected to do, so occasions where toughness exceeds the damage die will be reasonably uncommon most of the time and very rare for reliably powerful weapons like guns or sharp blades.

With the help of your Chosen One you could probably carry him someplace but you would have to treat his wound first and be very cautious in moving him. Your Chosen One is also entirely garbed in filthy rags, perfect for gagging someone you hate.

Using your Chosen One's dirty rags, you first staunch the bleeding from your foes stomach. He moans miserably but you then set about removing his strange segmented armor which seems to be made from some sort of lightweight ceramic material. It doesn't stretch around his whole body but it does cover his chest and therefore has to be removed to wrap his wound...

You give his "Holy Rod", a long barreled variety like your own (though this barrel isn't nearly as thick) to your Chosen One. He seems uncomfortable with it but you promise to instruct him with it when there's time.

You stuff an additional dirty rag into the man's mouth and drag him into a nearby building, hiding him and yourselves among dusty old shelves. Your Chosen One spots a locked backroom and wastes no time smashing the rusted padlock with his club. You sequester yourselves within and you pull the rag back out of the man's mouth, preparing to interrogate him.

>>42509584Okay, should probably start with the feigning like you actually know what you're talking about first and see what slips.

"Why should I come peacefully with you, again?"

"How long until the Metros win?"

"Is there an escape route?"

"Try and convince me why I should be merciful."

Things we don't know that we hope he'll let slip: What his side is called, where his side is retreating to if they're losing to the Metropolyiates, which side of the battle blew up the clone factory, which side of the battle is bombing shit. What the city's called. What that city symbol on the backs of the campers means.

Could also be due to the 9 or so other quests running right now. I should really start earlier if I'm going to run on Monday or avoid it entirely. The former wasn't an option today unfortunately but I'll definitely keep it in mind for the future...

The man's face is pale. His hair is parted carefully to the side and he shudders with each breath. Blood continues to hemorrhage from his wound and you realize even as you begin your questioning that you don't have much time.

"Why did you fire on me if you wanted me to come peacefully?"

He laughs and then groans.

"Stupid slave, the Metropolyiates reward me if you're dead or alive. You think you're the first slave I shot at today? Offering you the chance to come peacefully was the extension of a privilege, not a right."

"Then how goes the battle? Are the Metropolyiates close to victory?"

"The Metropolyiates never lose, even a slave like you knows that. They've already repulsed the raider's landing parties and they'll soon be deploying counter measures against their balloons. And as soon as that's done, they'll come for treasonous helots like you."

"Tell me how I can escape them then, oh mighty slave catcher?"

He coughs spasmodically and then grins at you, blood trickling down his chin.

"You'll not escape them, slave. Not even if you swam for the Bronx."

With that the coughing resumes for a moment and then he falls still. You don't bother to make sure he's dead. Instead you loot him and find:

Outside the sound of combat rages on and your Chosen One shudders, clutching his new weapon. He seems small and afraid and you are uncertain as to whether you should comfort him or point out how pathetic he's being.

>>42510562With half the upper breastplate gone you dismantle the remainder of the armor and take stock of what you have. All the stomach pieces are intact and it seems fairly obvious that you should strap them to your own stomach. You could leave the remaining half of the upper breastplate where it is (on the right side of your chest) or you could get creative with it. You find that the plate chips when struck with your metal knife and can therefore be carved into:

>>42510851Bet it's nuclear switch.Your best bet in regards to 'better day' is to just keep on running regularly/on a schedule(each monday for example) and attracting players as you go. Some are bound to pop in and check it out eventually. Many people are offput by early quests, sub double digits number of threads, since they sink so fast. Basically don't expect bustling threads of 20+ people as a newcomer. QMs got their own playerbases and so on.

Probably right. Still, my other quest (Exterminator Quest) struggles to attract large numbers despite being a little bit older. I'm happy with my players (many of which seem to be consistent repeats for both of my quests) but I think the lack of new participants is due to oversaturation of the board with quests and the fact that I haven't picked an established franchise for any of my premises. Posters are unfamiliar with the setting and uncomfortable with working out what's really going on around them, which is a big theme in both this and Exterminator Quest..